After the Legend: A Darkness Reborn
by Fenix Maxwells
Summary: Many years have passed since Spyro and Cynder defeated Malefor, and they have long since passed. For generations, the dragons lived in relative peace. However, no peace lasts forever. In the city of Warfang, the year of the dragon came and passed as usual. Out of the many hatchlings born, one stood above the others. A young male fire drake by the name of Ignil. This is his story
1. The Story Begins

Chapter 1

IGNIL

I groaned, opening my eyes, using a wing to shield myself from the bright sunlight coming in through the window to my room. I looked up at the ceiling, and sat in silence, not really wanting to get up. Normally, on a day like today, a young dragon would be jumping out of bed, ready for a day of play and excitement. Today was my birthday, but there was nothing to be joyous about.

I had no friends that would spend time with me and goad me on into doing stupid shit. I had no parents to wish me a happy birthday. I had nothing. Well, that's not entirely true. Out of all the dragons here at the orphanage, there was one who dared to be my friend. Her name was Glace, and her parents had been killed by a pack of apes, leftover from the time of Malefor. She was the only one that actually seemed to care about me.

I sighed and forced myself out of the less than comfortable bed. _I guess I should get up, and be ready for another day of being left to wallow in solitude. 13 years of this and nothing has changed._ I stretched my wings and popped a few joints before finally walking to the door that separated me from the rest of the world.

I opened the door and walked out, and what greeted me was what I had expected. The other dragons playing their games, fighting and such. All of it stopped the instant I walked out of my room, and I swore I could hear them whispering about me. I did my best to ignore them and walked out of the orphanage and into the yard. Fortunately, there was no one that I could see out here, and I walked over to the small hill, and lied down on top of it, closing my eyes, letting the sun's rays warm my scales.

"Ignil?" I heard a voice ask, and I opened my eyes, seeing probably the one thing that made life bearable. Glace.

"Oh, good morning, Glace," I responded, not moving from my rather comfortable spot.

"You know what day it is?"

"Another worthless waste of time?" I said a slight grin on my face.

"You know, acting like that won't win you any friends, right?" she replied, curtly.

"You may be right, but I honestly don't see a reason to try, when they'll dislike me anyways."

"That's cold, Ignil. Even for you. I swear you were an Ice dragon in a past life or something. Anyways, happy birthday. I got you a little something…" I looked at her, my interest now piqued. "Come on, follow me." she continued, before turning and starting to run across the yard, around the corner to the front of the orphanage.

Slightly confused, and stood up and followed her, however, when I got to the front of the building, I was met with a large dragon. His scales were a deep red, and his crest and horns were a silver color. This was no ordinary flame dragon, but rather, it was the fire guardian, Fenix, himself.

"F-Fenix?" I stammered, before bowing my head out of respect. I may be stubborn, but even I know to show one of the guardian's proper respect.

"Hello there, young one. May I ask who you are?"

"I-I-Ignil… s-sir." I replied, keeping my head bowed. I felt him stare at me as if he were looking into my very soul. The guardian's very presence was almost overbearing for me.

"You know, there's no need to bow, little drake," he said calmly. I slowly lifted my head, looking at him.

"Wh-what _cough_ brings you to our orphanage, M-mister Fenix."

"Please, just call me Fenix. And as for why I'm here, well… I'm here to find new students for the academy. We could always use more dragons as those who are nearing the end of their days retire," the guardian responded. "In fact, there was a certain ice dragon around here that especially caught my eye. I believe her name was… oh, what was it again…"

"G-glace, sir?"

"Ah yes, Glace! That was her name. I remember she asked me a favor, and the other guardians have, although reluctantly, agreed to it as well. Now, excuse me, Ignil. I must speak with the caretakers."

 _Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new fanfic. I recently rediscovered the Legend of Spyro series and figured that I might write a story on it. I have no clue how many chapters it will be, but I will definitely keep it going as long as I feel it needs to._


	2. Confrontation

Chapter 2

IGNIL

I nodded, stepping out of the way, and letting the guardian pass. After he entered the building, I looked around for Glace. _Where the Hell could she have gone?_ I thought to myself. I lowered my head, trying to see if I could smell her out, before, without warning, I was slammed to the ground by a sudden weight, nearly as heavy as I was.

"Got you!" said the object that landed on me.

"D-Dammit, Glace. You know how much I hate that," I grumbled, standing up on shaky legs.

"Oh, relax, Ignil. You're one of the few… actually, you're the only one… who can actually stand with me on their back. So I think you're fine."

"So what, you're calling yourself fat, now, are you?"

"Hey! You know that's not what I meant!" I chuckled softly at her reaction.

"It was just a joke. No need to get all heated about it. That's my job, I am the fire dragon here, remember?"

"Yeah, one who can't breathe fire." commented the most annoying of voices I could have heard today. I turned, Glace still lying on my back, coming face to face with the biggest ass in the orphanage. A purple dragon named Atheus, a particularly cocky grin on his face today. "I've already mastered fire AND electric breath. So that dumb old guardian, Fenix, would be crazy not to pick me as one of the three dragons that get to go to the academy. He'd be even crazier to choose you."

"You know, being able to use your elements doesn't mean shit if you can't actually fight without them. So, let's go. Me and you. Right here. Right now," I growled back, hastily. I knew that I was going to lose. Atheus knew nothing of honorable combat, and he would most likely use his fire or lightning breath to distract me, but I just could take the shithead's attitude any longer.

"Bold words coming from a worthless half-breed!" he retorted. His words stung, but were true… as far as I could tell. I was told that I was born from a wyvern and a dragon, hence my more slender body build. However, his insults only proved to make me even angrier. I know for a fact that if I had my control over my element, that I would be quite literally burning with rage. Glace jumped off of my back, standing between me and Atheus.

"Calm down, both of you. This is not the time or place to fight."

"Like hell, it isn't!" Atheus growled, knocking her aside. My eyes widened at first, in shock that even Atheus would hit someone he wasn't directly fighting, then narrowed as I glared at him. I felt the rage start to burn in my chest, like a roaring fire.

"YOU BASTARD!" I cried out, lunging on top of the purple dragon, pinning him onto his back. I quickly raised a set of razor-sharp claws and brought them down onto his face. Atheus screamed in pain as he kicked me off of him, sending me into the air. He took flight as well, charging me. I responded in kind. We locked horns and claws as we collided in mid-air.

"You damn wyvern-whelp! How dare you harm me!" he cried out, practically spitting fire.

"Shut up! You think that you're better than everyone else, simply for the fact that you are the 'legendary' purple dragon! You're nothing but a stuck up, insensible, asshole!" I retorted. He threw me to the ground, hitting me with a blast of lightning, causing my joints to lock up momentarily.

"If you're so keen to fight for a pathetic ice dragon-like Glace, then I'll just have to hurt her even more, for what you did to my face!" He landed on top of Glace, who had just tried to leave to get help. The look of pain on her face when Atheus landed on her back, and the almost sickening cracking sound I heard caused my paralyzed body to tremble with rage.

"G-get. Off. Of. Her." I growled. Atheus looked at me and laughed.

"Still able to speak, half-breed? Well then, I'll be sure to rip out that tongue of yours after I've finished with Glace." He plunged his claws into her back, before slowly pulling them downwards along her spine, eliciting a pained cry from Glace. The rage from earlier began to build up again, like an inferno, rising in my chest. My body seemed to move of its own accord as time appeared to screech to a halt.

"Let. Her. GO!" I cried out, before becoming enveloped in flame, but not from Atheus, rather, it came from my own body. Without thinking I lunged, hitting him square in the chest with my horns, slamming him into the wall of the orphanage. I then grabbed Atheus and threw him to the ground, standing over him again, raising now flaming claws once more. "I am going to kill you for what you did to Glace," I whispered into his ear, before slamming the flaming razors down onto his face.

They never made contact, however, stopped by a deep red tail.

"That is quite enough, young Ignil. He is beaten. There is no need for you to harm him any further." I snapped my head to the one who dared to stop the killing blow I had tried to inflict, and instantly, I froze. Staring down at me, was none other than Fenix. "That is a quite impressive flame you have there. It almost rivals that of the purple dragons of legend. However, you seem to have little control over it. Tell me, when did you learn to use your element."

"Use… my element?" I asked, slightly dumbfounded. That's when it hit me. The flame that had enveloped me was my own. It was the fire that I had yet to even breathe, let alone use in other methods of combat.

"Yes… wait… have you never used your element before?" the Guardian asked, rather surprised at this revelation. "This is very… interesting. Perhaps there is hope for you yet…"

"Wh-what does that mean?!" I asked, still trying to grasp the reality of what had transpired.

"Nothing at the moment," he replied calmly. He must have noticed my gaze drifting over to Glace. "Worry not, young Ignil. Your friend will be sure to make a full recovery, once we're at the academy."

"W-wait… 'we're'? You mean… not just her?"

"Yes, that is what I said," Fenix said with a bit of a sigh, "All three of you have been chosen for the academy. And while I must say, the rather… gruesome… display given by Atheus caused me to falter, he is still being brought alone, as I feel that we can sort out that ego problem of his."

"W-wait. You mean… that I-I… I've actually been chosen to train with the _guardians_?"

"Is that not what I said? Now, prepare to depart. We're leaving within the hour.


	3. Dream

Chapter 3

IGNIL

I hate flying. I mean, I don't mind short distance flying, but anything longer than a few minutes just gets on my nerves. Then again, it could also be that any time I go long distance, I have to go with another person, and it always seems to be Atheus that I'm paired with. I looked behind me to see Atheus giving me a glare that could burn through a mountain. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. _Serves the bastard right._

I looked back to Fenix, carrying an unconscious Glace. Seeing her like that just… It just hurt, unlike anything before. _She is the only person I can call a friend, and I failed. I failed to protect her. What am I thinking…_ I saw an image in my mind. There was a dying ice dragon in my arms. It was Glace. I shuddered, trying to push the image out of my head, but no matter what I did, it stuck there, in the back of my mind.

Then, all I saw was darkness. I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I _felt_ nothing. For what seemed like an eternity, I floated there, in eternal darkness, until I heard something. A voice.

"Come young dragon. Seek out what you desire most." I froze solid and blinked once, finding myself on a stone platform, in an endless void, filled with many other stone platforms, al drifting about seemingly randomly, yet in an order as well. I stepped forward, moving towards the center of the large platform, where a small, circular pedestal was sitting. I stepped onto the pedestal, my curiosity getting the best of me. The instant I was on the pedestal, a pillar of light surrounded me, and I found myself unable to move.

"Young Ignil. The fact that you have found your way here, is proof enough of your strength. But it is also proof of your… overwhelming… worry and doubt." the voice continued. "I can teach you how to control your strength, for you are far more special than you realize."

"J-just what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that unlike most dragons, you have the power to change the world. Currently, you only know the element of fire."

"W-wait… are you saying I can learn multiple elements?"

"Not naturally, no. But with help and determination, one can achieve anything. However, with all of this raw power you possess, it may seem impossible to control. First, I will teach you how to mast your control over the fire…" I was in absolute shock. Me, a red dragon learning how to use other elements than fire? Such a thing was unheard of.

"Wh-what is the catch?"

"There is no catch… are you telling me you wouldn't enjoy the power to protect those you care about… the one you love?" the voice responded with a chuckle.

"L-love? What the Hell are you talking about?" I cried out. I didn't love anyone or anything. Nor did I have plans to.

"Stop lying to yourself, boy. I can see into your mind. Your feelings for that young ice drake friend of yours are oh so with my help, you will be able to ensure that she is safe from harm. You wouldn't want something like what that troublesome purple dragon did to her to happen again, would you?"

My jaw dropped. He could see right through me. He knew me better than I knew myself. _Maybe… maybe I should let him teach me. Besides, what's the harm in learning how to better protect Glace… she is my only friend after all._

"Please… Teach me…" I mumbled, lowering my head.

"Very well. As I said, I will first teach you how to wield the flame that burns in your chest." The pillar of light changed to a red color, and I felt warmth envelop me. "The element of Fire is both creative and destructive, its qualities are Brightness, Thinness, and Motion and its mode is Active. It is fire that we and our ancestors used to warm our homes, we use it to cook our food, we sit around it to ward off the darkness of night, and it fuels our passions. Fire, unlike the other elements, does not exist in a natural state. Its physical form can only take place by consuming some other element. Fire is the transformer, converting the energy of other objects into other forms: heat, light, ash, and smoke. Feel it burning in your chest. Feel it envelop you, and then let it out, in a roaring inferno!"

As he spoke, flames surrounded me, and I could feel their heat. I closed my eyes, and let them overtake me.

"In order to gain benefit from the energy of this element, one needs to control Fire's destructive aspect. When one light a candle, they are not only calling upon the energy of Fire, they are also limiting its power. This destructive aspect should not be seen as negative, forest fires, actually help, clearing away underbrush and encouraging seeds lying dormant within the Earth to burst forth into new life. However, there are times when destruction becomes necessary. As such, the primal element of fire in the right hands can become a roaring inferno of power. Let it out, Ignil. Let out that rage in your heart for the purple dragon, for Atheus!"

My eyes snapped open, and I let out a roar, and the entire platform was soon engulfed in flame.

"Impressive, young dragon. There may be hope for you yet."

"Th-thank you… a-also, if you don't mind my asking… what is your name?" I asked, panting rather heavily. I saw a dragon come in from the shadows. Not enough to reveal his face, but just enough to show off his silhouette.

"My name, at the moment, is of little consequence, Ignil. Now. It's time for you to wake up."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I questioned, not remembering falling asleep.

"Wake up Ignil. Ignil… wake up!"

My eyes shot open, and I sat up, hitting my head against something, forcing me to lie back down as I grabbed my head. "Ow!" I groaned, opening my eyes again. I saw what, or rather, who I had hit. It was Glace. Apparently, she had decided to try and wake me up.


End file.
